1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to paper napkins. In particular, the present invention relates to folded paper napkins designed to be inserted in bulk and withdrawn one-at-a-time from a napkin dispenser.
2. Description of Related Art
Paper-napkin dispensers are well known. In their many embodiments, the dispensers allow for the paper napkins to be loaded in bulk and then withdrawn in small quantities. One such dispenser is commonly known as a Low-Fold dispenser. A Low-Folder dispenser has two, opposite faces from which napkins can be dispensed. A Low-Fold dispenser loads from both sides with a folded steel plate or spiral metal/plastic spring coil on either side of the napkins which acts as a spring to move the napkins to either the outer edge or each side of the dispenser as napkins are removed for use by the restaurant patron. Examples of known Low-Fold dispensers include the Palmer N45Tabletop Low-Fold, the San Jamar® H985BK Lowfold, and the TRAEX (Vollrath) 6509-06 NapDisp-Table™, and other generic Low-Fold dispensers or imported origin.
Standard Low-Fold napkins are designed to load into and be dispensed from Low-Fold dispensers. Standard Low-Fold napkins comprise a single ply napkin when completely unfolded that is approximately 10.00″ to 12.00″ in length between 6.00″ and 9.00″ in width. In the folded state, as they are when placed in the dispenser, Low-Fold napkins are approximately 4.875″ to 5.00″ in length (top to bottom of the dispenser) and approximately 3.5″ in width (side to side of the dispenser). Furthermore, standard Low-Fold napkins have a “tab” (for the user to pull the napkin from the dispenser) in the napkin length direction of approximately 3.25″ to 3.5″ of the total length of approximately 5.00″. The width of the “tab” is the same width of the folded napkin width of approximately 3.5″. Standard Low-Fold napkins are folded in two places along their length in opposite directions. The bottom quarter of the standard Low-Fold napkin is then folded once along their width. When that fold is complete, the bottom portion of the standard Low-Fold napkin is then folded again. The result is a napkin that is thicker at the bottom than the top, with a thin tab protruding along the top edge of the napkin. When packaged and loaded into a Low-Fold dispenser, the standard Low-Fold napkins are stacked on top of each other with each napkin positioned face-up and in the same direction as the napkin underneath and above.
Examples of low-fold napkins commonly distributed to restaurants include North River #2579, Perky II™ 6.75″×12″ (3.5″×5″), Perky III Decor™ 5.5″×12″ (3.5″×5″), Perky II North River™ 6.5″×12″ (3.5″×5″), Perky I™ #25816 9″×12″ (3.5″×5″), G.P.™ #32002 6.5″×10″, G.P #6392-01 Tidy Nap™ 9″×12″, SCA-D3061Tork Universal Dantifold D.N.™ 8.7″×12″ (3.5″×5″), SCA-Tork D6311A Thrifty Dantifold Lowfold™ 5.5″×12″ (3.5″×5″), Morcon #P-500 Low-Fold Mini D.N.™ 7″×12″ (3.5″×5″), Boardwalk #8316 Low-Fold Mini D.N.™ 7″×12″ (3.5″×5″).
All of the napkins listed above have an approximate folded dimension of 3.5″×5″. This approximate dimension is necessary to contain the stack of napkins when pressed into the double sided opening which contains two plates attached on opposite sides to an internal spring. The napkins as pulled by the users from both sides of the dispenser and are moved forward by the spring attached to the two plates at opposite sides of the spring.
A common problem with Low-Fold napkins is the uneven thickness of the folded napkin due to the approximate 1.5″ to 1.75″ top part of the napkin (above the approximate 3.25″ to 3.5″ folded tab) in the folded length direction of approximately 5″. This part of the approximate 5″ folded length lacks the firmness of the portion of the folded napkin comprised of the “tab” which is folded over at 2 or 3 times the thickness of the top part. Therefore, the top part tends to be less firmly pressed into the dispenser causing the napkins at the top of the dispenser to have a propensity to fall forward and come loose from the top of the dispenser. This leads to users grabbing the napkins in multiples if they pull from the top of the dispenser instead of using the folded over “tab” to pull napkins one-at-a-time. Even if the “tab” is properly used to pull a single napkin from the dispenser, the napkins tend to come out more than one-at-a-time due to less firmness of the napkin stack at the top of the dispenser. This results in excessive use of standard Low-Fold napkin and causes restaurants who use low-fold napkins to spend more money than if the napkin was more likely to dispense one-at-a-time in a controlled manner.
There is accordingly a need for a Low-Fold napkin that provides for easy one-at-a-time dispensing from standard Low-Fold dispensers, which reduces napkin waste, that can also be packaged effectively and cheaply in a square manner.